Carrie, la perrita bailarina

I have used this video for several years now. Below, I posted the basic lesson plan that I first used for a 45-minute class period. Since then, I’ve expanded it quite a bit by adding more readings, songs, and reading activities. You can download the new plans here. They include four readings, two songs, a reading interview activity, and more.

For more information about Carrie, you can visit http://carriethedancingdog.com/, or you can watch many of her different videos on her Spanish-language site. The song in the most popular Carrie video is “El Baile del perrito” by Hit Crew, and here are the lyrics for it: El baile del perrito

Campanada (Bellwork): Students write responses in complete sentences in preparation for class discussion

Give students the lyrics sheet for “El baile del perrito”. First, we talked about what a ‘perrito’ is (‘-ito quiere decir ‘pequeño’…un perrito es un perro pequeño, una casita es una casa pequeña, etc.) and we discussed what the title means. Then, I jumped to the lyric in the middle of the song that says “Tengo un perrito…” and used that to talk about how the dance came from the singer’s dog and how it moves its waist when it is happy. We then backtracked to the beginning of the song and looked at where it is danced (discotecas), who dances it (guys) and who watches it (girls). We went over a few other parts of the song, but didn’t translate the entire thing.

Finally, I explained that this song is merengue, and merengue es un tipo de música de la República Dominicana. We quickly learned the basic merengue steps, then practiced our sweet new moves while listening to the song once.

Reading

Type up a quick target-language reading about Carrie, and read it together. As always, make sure you are circling and checking for comprehension.